


Hot Tea and Good Company

by BazineApologist



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Hot Mess AU Prompt, Minor references to potential drug/alcohol overdose, Nightmares, No actual drug/alcohol overdose, No actual sexual assault, Not dark at alll despite the tags, Tiny reference to potential sexual assault, ambien
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-28
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-08-08 19:40:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16435574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BazineApologist/pseuds/BazineApologist
Summary: Ben wakes to find a stranger petting Millicent in the backyard in the middle of the night.





	Hot Tea and Good Company

**Author's Note:**

> This prompt was taken from theapplieppielifestyle’s [Hot Mess OTP AUs (Part 1)](http://theappleppielifestyle.tumblr.com/post/112392287541/list-of-aus-to-consider-where-one-or-both-of-ur), except I swapped out the dog for Millicent and alcohol for Ambien.
> 
> The prompt (linked above): “i met you last night when you were drunkenly patting my dog in my backyard at 3 in the morning and when i asked you what the hell you were doing you slurred something about dogs being great and then you threw up on my feet and then fifteen minutes later you were passed out on my couch so that's why you're here right now also what the fuck is your name and why were you patting a dog in a stranger's backyard in the middle of the night' au”

“Here kitty, kitty. Good kitty, kitty,” said the random bystander in Kylo’s dream. It was very distracting. Just moments before, Kylo had been entirely consumed with the horror of his teeth falling out one by one. One of his classic anxiety-fueled nightmares. Its regular recurrence was almost comforting.

But now, that comfort was being interrupted by some faceless background character cooing over and over again about a cat. This had never happened before. There wasn’t even a cat in this dream…

Kylo slowly came to, realizing the cooing was not originating from his dream. It was happening in the real world, somewhere outside. Kylo angrily grabbed his phone off the bedside table and glanced at the time. It was three-fucking-a.m. in the morning. He threw his hands over his face and prayed to the sleep gods that the sound would _go away_. But the literal catcalls continued. 

He got up in a huff to slam the bedroom window closed. As he reached for the slide, however, he noticed the source of the racket. It was a girl. Woman. Crouched in the backyard, stroking Millicent.

“What the fuck?” Kylo muttered, rushing out to the backyard to confront the intruder.

He was never pet sitting for Armitage Hux ever again! He didn’t care that Hux was on his honeymoon. He didn’t care that he was Hux’s only friend. Could you really even call them friends? College roommates and coworkers, sure. The best man at Hux’s very recent wedding, yes. But friends?

The only reason Kylo was even doing this was because Phas had begged him to. How do you say no to a bride on her wedding day?

At first, he had assumed that the couple would bring Millicent to him. He could handle sharing his space with a cat for a few days. But no. Hux had insisted that Millicent was sensitive. That a new environment would unsettle her. Couldn’t Ben just stay at their place for a few days?

He rushed through the sliding glass door and into the backyard, startling the stranger. She tumbled out of her crouch, landing with a thud on the grass. Millicent bolted through the open door and into the house. 

“Oof!” the stranger said dramatically. 

“Who the fuck are you?” Kylo growled. “What the fuck are you doing here? I’m calling the police.”

The stranger started to cry.

Like many emotionally stunted men “raised” by emotionally stunted fathers, crying women made Kylo deeply uncomfortable. His own mother cried very rarely. But here was this strange, trespassing woman, losing her shit right in front of him. 

Kylo looked her over nervously, not yet ready to make the call. Fuck, she was beautiful, even with her slightly-bloodshot hazel eyes glassy with tears. The blotchiness of her face only highlighted the adorable freckles scattered across her perfect button nose. Her convulsions made the messy knot of chestnut hair bounce up on and down on top of her head. 

Kylo’s gaze moved downwards. She was dressed in one of those pajama sets. Collared button-up shirt on top and matching shorts on bottom. They were blue. And covered in hearts and cartoon sheep. Why was that so cute? The miles of golden skin displayed between the bottom of her sleep shorts and the top of her literal bunny slippers certainly didn’t hurt his admiration.

“What are you doing?” Kylo asked more kindly. The woman hiccuped before slurring, “Kitties are so great.” She blinked at Kylo a few times, before slumping over completely.

Kylo rushed to kneel next to her and shake her awake. She muttered nonsense at him, but wouldn’t come-to. He groaned, unsure what to do. He couldn’t just leave her here. What if she overdosed on whatever she was clearly on? Or choked on her own vomit? 

And she seemed harmless enough, especially passed out. Kylo couldn’t call the police on her. Not now.

At a complete loss, Kylo scooped the woman up into a bridal carry and wandered inside. Kylo glanced over to Hux’s couch. It was sleek, stylish, and damned uncomfortable. He didn’t want to subject his poor trespasser to the inevitable back pain that would come from sleeping on that monstrosity.

So he carried her upstairs, depositing her into the guest bed that he had just vacated. At least he knew it was comfortable and the sheets were clean (save for the precious few hours Kylo had spent in them).

He made sure she was on her side, put a trash can in her vicinity, and settled into an armchair, to watch her and make sure she didn’t die in her sleep. While monitoring her, he had to admit, she was the cutest criminal he had ever seen.

—

Several hours later Kylo jerked awake at the sound of a scream. 

“Where am I? Who are you? I’m calling the police,” cried the woman, sitting up in bed, blankets clutched in front of her. 

Shit. Kylo hadn’t meant to fall asleep. But he was happy to see nothing bad had happened to the woman. In fact, save for her obvious panic and distress, she seemed quite recovered. The whites of her eyes were regular-white, now. The blotchiness gone.

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?” she screamed at him.

“Calm down. I didn’t do anything to you.” Suddenly, Kylo’s focus was drawn to the cat stretching near her feet. Millicent circled a few times before curling into a heap. The woman’s eyes moved to the cat as well. 

“I know that cat…”

“Well, yes. I found you in the backyard last night, petting her. You were whisper-yelling ‘here kitty, kitty,’ over and over and over again.”

The woman just looked at him, a near-perfect recreation of the “blinking white guy” meme.

“So anyway,” Kylo continued, “who are you and why where you patting a cat in the backyard at 3:00 a.m.?”

“I’m… Rey…” the woman told him before groaning and burying her face in her hands. “It must have been the Ambien,” came the muffled response to his question.

“Ambien?” Kylo repeated.

“Yes. I have… nightmares. Bad childhood, yada yada. Anyway, they make it hard to fall asleep so my doctor prescribed me Ambien. Last night was my first night taking it.”

“That explains the pajamas and fuzzy slippers, at least.” 

Rey pulled back the sheet to look at what she was wearing underneath. “Oh, that’s much better than I was expecting,” she told him morbidly.

Kylo shifted uncomfortably. “So you were sleepwalking?”

“I guess?” she replied. “I have absolutely no recollection of anything that happened after I went to sleep in my own bed.”

“Well, then the next question is, how far did you sleepwalk?”

Rey got up and peeked out the same window Kylo had seen her though last night. “Not far, I think,” she told him. “This definitely looks like my neighborhood. 

Kylo pulled out his phone and asked her her address. He typed it into his maps app and saw that her house was just a street away. She sighed in relief and turned back to Kylo.

“So, if we’re such close neighbors, how come I’ve never seen you before? I feel like I would remember.” She gestured at him vaguely, trying to convey something Ben certainly did not understand. A slight blush settled over her features.

“Oh, I don’t live here,” he told her instead of dwelling on what her blush might mean. “I’m Millicent-sitting.”

“Millicent?”

“The cat you were so enamored of last night.”

As if on cue, Millicent stretched up again, hopped off the bed, wandered over the Rey, and rubbed herself against Rey’s bare legs. Rey reached bent down to snuggle the ginger kitty.

For the first time in his life, Kylo was jealous of a cat.

“The cat I definitely recognize. Who are you pet sitting for?”

“Armitage Hux. Really pinched looking red headed guy?”

Rey laughed and nodded in recognition. “With the really beautiful, blonde Amazonian… uh… partner? Girlfriend?”

“Wife,” Kylo responded. “As of Saturday.”

“Awww,” Rey cooed in a similar voice to the one she’d used to lure Millicent last night. “Good for them. I love love.”

Kylo and Rey looked at one another until suddenly they had been looking at each other for too long, and what had once been a comfortable exchange was suddenly unbearably awkward. They both shifted their gaze. Kylo cleared his throat. 

“I… should get going,” Rey said. “I’m really sorry about this… oh. I don’t think I ever got your name.”

“Kylo,” said Kylo, holding out his hand. 

Rey stared at it, as if unsure what to do. Kylo was just about to lower his hand uncomfortably, when she reached out and grasped it, even giving it a playful squeeze. Now Kylo was the one blushing. 

“I really appreciate you taking care of me, Kylo,” Rey told him. “I can’t imaging many people would have taken in an out-of-sorts stranger and let them sleep in their beds, while they slept in an uncomfortable chair.”

“Oh. Well. I wanted to make sure you made it through the night before I called the police.”

“Thank you. And thank you for not doing that. Calling the police, I mean.”

“No problem.”

“Okay, well, goodbye,” she gave him a little wave and headed toward the door. She turned around after just a few steps and said. “Er, actually, can you show me the way out?”

He nodded and led her outside. 

She lingered on the doorstep for a moment, facing Ben and fiddling with the hem of her sleep shirt. “Well, thanks again,” she said. “Maybe I’ll see you around.”

“Oh yeah. I’ll be here for a few more days,” he told her. “Uh, Rey?”

“Hmm?”

“Maybe no more Ambien?”

She smiled. “Yeah… I think that’s probably for the best.”

“I get nightmares too. You know what I’ve heard really helps?”

“What?”

“Hot tea and good company, shortly before bed.”

“Does that work for you?”

“Not yet,” he told her. “I haven’t been able to find the right company.”

“Oh… I’m pretty good company,” she told him.

“Are you?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“And Hux has good tea. Being British and all.”

“Oh?”

“Should we try it, then? Tonight? I’ll provide the tea, you provide the company?”

“Yeah, yes. I think it’s worth a shot.”

“Okay. Say, nine o’clock?” Ben hedged.

“That’s pretty early,” Rey replied.

“I believe the remedy requires quite a dose of company.”

“Of course. Makes sense. I’ll see you at nine, then, Kylo.”

“See you then.” 

With that, Rey turned and walked away, glancing over her shoulder twice to find Ben still watching. 

 

—

**Author's Note:**

> Just trying to get back into the swing of things with some short drabbles based on Tumblr prompts.


End file.
